Rep. Andy Harris MUST VOTE NO to healthcare cuts - and YES to Reauthorize CHIP!

The Eastern Shore’s Rep. Andy Harris, a physician, is supposed to carry the admonition “first do no harm” everywhere he goes. When he goes back to the House of Representatives he should suit action to those words and vote to reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program with no cuts in funding.

Here at the Maryland for Guaranteed Healthcare campaign and Progressive Maryland, we are horrified by the 23 million people tossed off health care by the (stalled) US House version of a substitute for the Affordable Care Act. CHIP is an important adjunct to Medicaid, which serves 37 million children. The Kaiser Family Foundation depicts four in ten children’s medical care depending on Medicaid and CHIP. According to Medicaid.gov, "as of May 2017, Maryland has enrolled 1,296,694 individuals in Medicaid and CHIP — a net increase of 51.43% since the first Marketplace Open Enrollment Period and related Medicaid program changes in October 2013."

Tell Andy Harris that his Congressional District 1 constituents, and people throughout Maryland, want CHIP reauthorized with NO funding cuts in September.

Andy Harris voted to reauthorize CHIP in 2015 the last time re-authorization was on the line. Nothing has changed except Trump’s destabilizing threats to the well-being of millions and an even more dangerous medical care landscape for hard-working low-income families for whom Medicaid is a lifeline.

Their children shouldn’t suffer. Andy Harris shouldn’t go along with the Trump-Ryan plan to loot our basic protections so as to cut taxes for millionaires.